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Fort Recovery school board members approved a 10-year plan Monday to maintain their school and facilities.
FORT RECOVERY - School board members on Monday night approved a capital plan as part of an ongoing collaboration with design firm Garmann Miller to maintain their schools, facilities and grounds from 2026 to 2035.
The 10-year plan approved on Monday night is the culmination of an intensive districtwide facilities review conducted by Garmann Miller in 2024.
That spring, the Minster-based firm brought in numerous professionals, such as plumbers, engineers and site designers, to inspect the district grounds and identify areas that will need addressed in 25 years in order for the district to remain operational.
The plan involves about $10.75 million in maintenance over the 10-year period. This is down from about $15 million in repairs that was previously estimated by Garmann Miller in their facilities review presentation to the board in October of 2024.
Superintendent Tony Stahl prefaced his presentation by noting that the costs in the capital plan are projected estimates, and that the plan is a living document.
"It's a projection. It doesn't consider inflation, they don't consider soft costs (like) site surveys, architecture and engineering fees, that kind of stuff," Stahl said. "So there is some variation, certainly especially over a 10-year period. But we do plan to update it - like I said, it's a living document. The other thing I'll point out is it mainly focuses on areas of need, but we did kind of build in the possibility of some facilities upgrades."
The projected $10.75 million is broken down as follows:
• roofing/building envelope maintenance for elementary middle school, $1.15 million.
• roofing/building envelope maintenance for high school, $1.73 million.
• mechanical/general maintenance for elementary middle school, $1.6 million.
• mechanical/general maintenance for high school, $1.63 million.
• asphalt/concrete for elementary middle school, $905,000.
• asphalt/concrete for high school, $445,000.
• district transportation, $1.26 million.
• district athletic facilities, $1.15 million.
• building furniture for elementary middle school, $450,000.
• building furniture for high school, $450,000.
Those costs are then broken down further in the plan by year. In 2026, the plan calls for $510,000 in expenses, which is split up amongst all 10 items.
The first project the district has started to tackle is upgrades to the Barrenbrugge Athletic Park.
Fort Recovery school board adopted a 10-year plan estimated to cost $10.75 million and to be broken up among the schools and facilities. An estimated $1.15 million will go towards the district's athletic facilities.
School board members approved a motion in October allowing Garmann Miller to perform a feasibility study for enhancements at the athletic park, at a maximum cost of $15,000.
The park has its original stadium lights from 1992, which Stahl said need upgraded to LED. That project has an estimated cost of $180,000. The feasibility study is ongoing and Stahl had no updates on it on Monday.
Fort Recovery school board adopted a 10-year plan estimated to cost $10.75 million and to be broken up among the schools and facilities. An estimated $1.15 million will go towards the district's athletic facilities.
The plan's approval does not mean that the board approved of every single project included in it, Stahl said. It's more of a planning document for district officials to have in their records and refer to. As they get to each project, school board members will still have to approve each contract and expense.
"It's just to have a capital plan in place," district treasurer Deanna Knapke said. "Especially with everything that's been going on with state funding and property taxes, you know, with the chance of our property taxes being cut also with some of the house bills that are in Gov. (Mike) DeWine's hands right now. If your county commissioner could cut your funds, you can show them that we do have this capital plan in place (and) that we have these funds allocated to spend on these future projects over the next 10 years."
In other business on Monday, school board members approved a $4,000 donation from Win on the Wabash to high school principal Ryan Steinbrunner's account.
Steinbrunner thanked the organization for the donation, and informed board members that the funds will go toward the high school's activity fund.
Activity fund money goes toward a variety of activity incentives to encourage students to get involved in different extracurricular activities, he said. A recent high school "activity audit" showed that so far this year, not including spring sports, ninth graders are in an average of 4.64 activities each; 10th graders average 4.5 each; 11th graders are in 4.94 each; and 12th graders are at 3.59 each.
"There are things that we get to do at the end of the year to incentivize students who are in these club sports and activities (and we're) certainly being helped out by the WOW Super Raffle," Steinbrunner said. "I want to thank them personally for their help with that."
A $6,430 donation from the district athletic boosters was also approved for athletics.
School board members then went into an executive session to discuss matters required to be kept confidential by federal law or rules of state statutes. No action was anticipated afterward.
They meet next for an organizational meeting at 6 p.m. Jan. 12 in the community room with the regular meeting to follow.
